November 13, 1924

A State Transportation Permit Was Awarded to J. W. Witten

This correspondence between John Walter Witten (1880–1959), a member of the House of Delegates from Tazewell County, and the Director of Prohibition, Harry B. Smith, shows how even elected officials made use of loopholes in state prohibition laws. (The permit that Witten received was for 1½ gallons of whiskey for medicinal purposes.) Witten was a member of the House of Delegates from 1924 to 1935 and 1944 to 1957. He served in the State Senate from 1936 to 1939. Dr. Jack Witten, as he was known in Tazewell, was an admired resident who fostered more than 150 boys in his home over his lifetime.